‘Deflating’ and illegal request highlights serious problem in Melbourne’s rental market

A Melbourne woman was left shocked after she was asked to pay $225 a week more than the advertised price for a rental property.

Emma told 3AW’s Jacqui Felgate she applied for a two-bedroom property in Hawthorn which was advertised for $675 a week. When she called the real estate agent to follow up on her application she was told “the current bidding was at $850 a week” and asked to pay $900 a week for the property.

“It was a bit deflating,” she said.

Press PLAY below to hear what happened to Emma

Lawyer at Tenants Victoria, Ben Cording, said rental bidding is illegal, but there are loopholes.

“The problem is that there’s nothing that stops the rental providers from chucking the ad up, going ‘ooh, there’s lots of interest’ and then pulling it back,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear more about the serious problems in the rental market

Image: Jacqui Felgate/Instagram